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IWF Monday Night Raw (March 17, 1997)
The March 17, 1997 Edition of Raw Is War is a Professional wrestling television show of the IWF's RAW brand, which took place on March 17, 1997 at the Onondaga War Memorial in Syracuse, New York. This was the last Raw before WrestleMania 13. Results ; ; *The Legion of Doom defeated Savio Vega & Crush (w/ The Nation) via disqualification when Farooq, who was barred from ringside, interfered and attacked the LOD with a nightstick; moments later, Ahmed Johnson, who was also barred from ringside, made the save with a 2x4; Farooq had attacked Ahmed backstage earlier in the show. **During the match, footage was shown from the previous night's MSG show of the Nation attacking Ahmed after his match with Savio Vega; after the bout, the LOD hit the Doomsday Device on D'Lo Brown. *Kunter Kearst Kelmsley (w/ Chyna) defeated Flash Funk with the Pedigree. **After the bout, both Kelmsley and Chyna attacked Funk (the first time Chyna was referred to by that name). *Mini Goldust & Mascarita Sagrada Jr. defeated Mini Vader & Mini Mankind when Sagrada defeated Mankind with a roll up.**After the bout, Sagrada chased Vader up the ramp, shoved him off the stage, and dove off onto him. *The Sultan (w/ the Iron Sheik & Mr. Bob Backlund) defeated Mike Bell via submission with the Camel Clutch. **IWF IC Champion Rocky Maivia did guest commentary for the match; after the bout, Tony Atlas came out of the crowd to hold Rocky back from fighting the Sultan. * The British Bulldog (w/ Owen Heart) defeated Vader (w/ Paul Bearer & Mankind) via disqualification, when Mankind attempted to interfere but Heart stopped him before he could. **After the bout, Heart was double teamed until Bulldog made the save by knocking Bearer off the apron and hitting Vader and Mankind with the urn. *Billy Gunn defeated Aaron Ferguson via submission with an armbar. **After the contest, Ken Shamrock, who did guest commentary for the match, accepted a challenge from Gunn and took him down on a number of occasions using an armbar and ankle lock; moments later, Gunn threatened to go into the ring with a steel chair but was stopped by the referee. *Psycho Sid defeated Bret Heart in a steel cage match to retain the IWF Championship, by escaping over the top after The Undertaker interfered and slammed the cage door into the challenger's face as Heart attempted to exit the cage, moments after Steve Austin interfered on behalf of Heart. **After the bout, Vince Matteson attempted to interview Heart in the ring but Heart shoved Matteson to the mat after he made mention of Bret being frustrated, then responded by saying, "Frustrated isn't the god damn word for it. This is bullshit!"; after a brief tirade about how the IWF higher-ups were turning a blind eye to all the injustices Hart has sustained in recent weeks, Steve Austin appeared on the Titantron and said he wanted Bret to win the title but Hart was too much of a loser to do so; moments later, Psycho Sid came to the ring and he and Hart were about to come to blows but then The Undertaker appeared and Hart hit a top through the ropes onto Taker; eventually, Austin came ringside and began stomping Hart on the outside as Taker and Sid fought in the ring to close the show, with referees and officials trying to separate the four men. As Bret's profanity wasn't censored on television, this incident had led to the IWF placing a seven-second delay on future live broadcasts. Other Segments *Footage from a New Jersey press conference, with Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, about bringing the IWF back to the state; featured comments from IWF President Gorilla Monsoon confirming that the steel cage match later in the show would be a title match. *Kevin Kelly conducting an in-ring interview with Bret Heart, discussing his title shot later in the show and his submission match against Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13. *Vince Matteson conducting an in-ring interview with Shawn Michaels in which Michaels invited himself to appear at the Slammys and to sit ringside for the world title match at WrestleMania. Commentators *Vince Matteson *Jim Ross *Jerry Lawler Ring Announcer *Tony Chimel Image Gallery Raw 3-17-97 1.jpg External links